Dr Robin Willcourt sees the doping investigation by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and the Australian Crime Commission as an opportunity to debate the categorisation of banned substances in sport.

'I'm hoping that what's happened is that a dialogue can now open up and we can talk sensibly about peptides and other agents that are considered to be enhancing drugs if you will. What I'm concerned about at the moment is that the public is probably so confused about what peptides are and what drugs in general are - the word drug already carries with it a bad name and yet it fits into things like the Food and Drug Administration for example'.

He says certain substances could be used to aid the recovery of athletes whose health can be affected by the demands of elite sports.

'Outside of the Athenians and the Spartans there are very few other humans that have been put to the stress that our current athletes are - they are really over-trained...they are really thrashed'.

'Their natural body response is to shut down and that's when you begin to see, in a male anyway, the testosterone levels falling. In females we see growth hormone levels go down and in many instances a woman's menstrual cycle will get completely disrupted because her hormone levels are dropping as well...but unfortunately right now those players are just left to fend for themselves...and there's nobody to help repair them'.

'What I would like to see happen is a discussion that says: these people are in medical need, let's treat them for a short period of time, forward all the results to the appropriate sporting organisation such as ASADA and WADA, say this is what we're doing, we're monitoring it very carefully, and when they're okay we stop'.

You can listen to the full interview with Dr Robin Willcourt on 702 ABC Mornings with Linda Mottram using the audio bar on this page and tune in to the program from 8.30am weekdays to hear an upcoming counter-argument about the use of supplements in sport.